Sometimes, your best simply isn’t good enough.

It was a lesson Angelique Kerber learned the hard way on Saturday as no matter what the German did on court, she was powerless to prevent the unstoppable force that is Serena Williams from running away with the Venus Rosewater Dish.

The 7-5 6-3 final victory not only handed the American a seventh Wimbledon title, it also finally gave her the elusive 22nd grand slam title that drew her level with Steffi Graf’s professional era record.

“I tried everything… but Serena was serving unbelievable today,” said Australian Open champion Kerber, who had blocked the American’s path to a 22nd slam title in January’s Melbourne Park final.

“I played my best so what else could I do? She really played an unbelievable match. She’s a great opponent, a great person, a great champion,” said the fourth seed.

Kerber played great too and was even applauded by her rival in the fourth game of the second set when she finished off a 15-stroke end-to-end baseline rally by curling in a blazing backhand winner despite almost running off into the side stands.

At 3-3, Kerber earned a break point but that disappeared within the blink of an eye as Williams fired down a 188km/h ace.

Unfortunately, that was as good as it got for Kerber.

“I had one break point and I couldn’t do anything,” said the 28-year-old, who was seeking to become the first German woman to win the title since her idol Graf 20 years ago.

“She was just going for it. She’s a tough opponent when she’s playing like today.”